2:15: Vice President Biden delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, IA

3:35: President Obama arrives in Madison, Wis.

4:40: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

6:05: Departs Madison

8:05: Arrives at the White House

****

****

NYT: Mitt Romney repeatedly questioned President Obama’s honesty at Wednesday night’s debate …. but he made a number of misleading statements himself on the size of the federal deficits, taxes, Medicare and health care……

Doubling the Deficit: Mr. Romney said Mr. Obama had doubled the deficit. That is not true….

Green Energy: Mr. Romney said that half the companies backed by the president’s green energy stimulus program have gone out of business. That is a gross overstatement. Of nearly three dozen recipients of loans under the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program, only three are currently in bankruptcy…..

The $716 Billion Cut From Medicare: Mr. Obama first brought up Mr. Romney’s frequent criticism that the president cut $716 billion from Medicare, by saying the cost savings were from reduced payments to insurance companies and other health care providers. But Mr. Romney repeated the claim, suggesting that the $716 billion in Medicare reductions would indeed come from current beneficiaries.

While fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked this claim, it remains a standard attack line for Mr. Romney…..

LA Times: Mitt Romney repeated a number of erroneous claims during Wednesday’s debate about President Obama’s healthcare law, including that it relies on a board that will decide “what kind of treatment” patients can get.

This is a myth advanced repeatedly by critics of the Affordable Care Act and debunked consistently by independent fact-checkers.

…. The panel of independent experts is empowered to suggest cuts to how much the federal government pays healthcare providers … but is explicitly prohibited from cutting benefits for people on Medicare.

NYT Editorial: …. The Mitt Romney who appeared on the stage at the University of Denver seemed to be fleeing from the one who won the Republican nomination on a hard-right platform of tax cuts, budget slashing and indifference to the suffering of those at the bottom of the economic ladder….

Virtually every time Mr. Romney spoke, he misrepresented the platform on which he and Paul Ryan are actually running….

…..There are still two more presidential debates, and Mr. Obama has the facts on his side to expose the hollowness of his opponent. But first he has to decide to use them aggressively.

Steve Benen: …. I’d argue the conventional wisdom is right: it wasn’t close. Based on style and performance, Mitt Romney did all of the things a “winning” debater is supposed to do.

…. But all of this overlooks an element I like to think it sometimes important: substance…. it seems to me Romney thrived in large part because he abandoned the pretense of honesty. And as it turns out, winning a debate is surprisingly easy when a candidate decides he can say anything and expect to get away with it.

Romney told viewers his proposed $5 trillion tax cut isn’t really his proposed $5 trillion tax cut. He suggested he could eliminate a $1 trillion deficit by going after Big Bird. He said his non-existent health care plan protects those with pre-existing conditions when in reality the exact opposite is true. He cited trumped up “studies” from far-right ideologues as if they’re legitimate, assuming the public won’t know the difference. He said a deficit that’s shrunk has actually “doubled.”

And when Romney wasn’t repeating falsehoods, he was furiously shaking an Etch A Sketch, rolling out yet another version of himself….

Liberal Librarian (The People’s View): ….. Remember the quote from Newt Gingrich about Romney? “How can you debate someone who lies about everything?”

Obama knew this about Romney. He knew that Romney would get on that podium, lie and filibuster and bully. “I paid for this microphone, Mr. Lehrer,” to paraphrase the Gipper.

And he knew that you can’t really debate someone like that.

Romney is an entitled prince. He again proved that he believes the rules don’t apply to him. And that type of person has the ability to bend those of weaker will to his point of view. I was sorely disappointed in Mr. Lehrer being cowed by the bully.

But, again, in this debate, Mitt Romney showed the country just what kind of person he is. Entitled. Prickly. Without a moral compass. Willing to jettison any “belief” to gain a momentary win.

Michelle Obama: Hello from Colorado! Last night, I attended the first presidential debate at the University of Denver, and I could not have been more proud of Barack. These debates are always pretty nerve-wracking for me to watch, but they’re an important part of our democratic process, and I think anyone who tuned in saw that we have a very clear choice to make this fall.

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198 Responses to “Rise and Shine”

Actually, I’m not feeling too smiley; waking up to all the hair on fire posts on web is annoying. I’ll wait til dust settles and people start remembering Romney is a liar loser again.
Oh and I did predict the pundits would proclaim Romney the winner. They sure did not disappoint on that front.
Bill Press, Ed Schultz and the rest of them can bite me. Hope Stephanie Miller is more positive, I don’t think I can take anymore of this doom and gloomy bullshit.

I did not watch the debate live, but did the rerun and I don’t think Obama did poorly at all, he did look tired but on substance he did great. I have not spoken to anybody whose mind was changed by Romney’s performance.

I get so upset when Obama supporter can’t see who the enemy are. We go on and on about things that don’t matter. For the 100 Time Obama fight is with the Media. Bush did not lie us into a War the media did. The people did not believe bush they believe the lies the media told. Obama have to take down the media who is the republicans party power

Yes, it’s a hard road he has, and has had for all of 5 or so years with his “otherness”. A lot of folks will call Christie prescient for the supposed outcome of a debate which was not a real debate. Though I did not watch, reading the posts allowed me to see what PBO was up against. The media creation of a cat fight championed the loudest, brashest, entitled great white hope. So what we know is that while PBO was simultaneously doing his day job, heading rallies, and practicing for debating, Mitt was holed away for days, perfecting all the lies he has been selling all along, and any thing’s acceptable to the opposition as long as it creates doubt about PBO. Repeat, repeat, repeat, and the people will buy it. National Urban League is even reporting PBO was not on top of his game last night. What the fuck ever !!

“The problem isn’t with [Romney’s] performance, the problem is with his underlying theories and some fundamental dishonesty that we saw last night,” Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Just heard 2 men discussing the debate here at work. (I stood behind the wall and eavsdropped..teeheee) They kept saying saying “yeah that’s what Ronmey “said”, but….” The focus was on Medicare and it was clear to them that R wants to make it a voucher. Neither liked that and both said they were close to retiring. My point is regardless of what they are saying in TV President made his points and IMO no one was swayed Ronmays way. Now hopefully Steph Miller will be reasonable on her show and not griping. If she is, I’m turning her my XM and listening to my iPod the rest of the day!

Pres. Obama did mention the death of Bin Laden towards the end as he outlined what he has done the past 4 years as President and Commander-In-Chief. He talked about jobs, healthcare, repealing DADT, ending the Iraq war, winding down the Afghanistan war, and stalling the Al Qaeda and then killing OBL.

I saw some people here, who should know better, piling on Obama with criticism that he didn’t plow into every topic under the sun, no matter the focus of the debate or the subject of the questions. I thought that was just preposterous. Did they want him to go rogue and launch into his own selective agenda? He would have been clobbered for such bombastic behavior.
I’m looking forward to the hysteria subsiding and a better grasp on reality and common sense arising.

Me? :-) I can’t talk for everyone else Dotster, my frustration was that Romney’s lies largely went unchallenged. It’s great to see some of the media expose them today, I just would have loved to have seen more of it last night when so many people were watching. I’m certain PBO didn’t want to lower himself by getting in to a dog-fight with that weasel, but as Japa suggested, I would have given anything to hear something like:

“A few weeks ago, a spokesman for Governor Romney said, in effect, that they were not going to let facts get in the way. It appears from the things the Governor has said tonight, that he agrees with that statement.”

Here’s the thing…Romney told so many lies last night that it’s going to take more than Obama and one night of debating to debunk them all. Even Newt Gingrich himself said, “How do you debate somebody who lies all the time?”

I always find Bill Press awful. I know a lot of folks like him, but I just don’t find him that impressive. It’s easy to sit behind a microphone or computer and say what someone should have done. Especially when you’ve never ran for public office yourself. Oh well.

After rumuninating about it, it dawned on me what Mitt’s problem is. Last night I was annoyed how he disrespected Jim Lehrer, who has a long history of moderating these debates. Pres Obama was probably surprised at the lenghts Mitt would go to to get his way. With that attitude I would not want Mitt anywhere on the foreign policy base or discussing sensitive issues with said leaders. He would bully his way through and we would be at war. He lied his way through, and our president did not makes his rebuttals thoroughly. It would seem that those who thought Mitt won, (the undecided) still are not ready to give Mitt their support, yet, so we continue to work.We are all bummed by the debate results. He is the president, I will have his back, but he will have to “bring it” next time. FORWARD!!!

Yup. I totally agree! When he is talking directly to us, he gets us, and can relate. I expect the repubs will have some really nasty questions for him, and I believe our questioners will have earnest questions that he can answer, directly.

He did “bring it”. He brought honesty and a clear view of policy and how government best serves the people. He didn’t bring the huff and puff, the rude aggressiveness. I wondered why people expected to see a different President Obama than the person he is. He was the same sane, smart leader that he always is and always has been.

I believe he has to “bring” a more thorough rebuttal. I was waiting for him to really and solidly clear up that 716 bil, nonsense for example. I thought he was presidential, calm, concise and made his points. Romney ran roughshod, and believe a solid rebuttal a few of his lies, like the taunt about being able to work with the dems in Mass, could have been met with” Of course, democrats are willing to work together for the good of the people, what we have had to deal with repubs on the national stage, is the complete opposite.” , would have been good. He is a smart leader, he could have been more verbal with it.

PEOPLE NEED TO FREAK OUT AT THE THOUGHT OF ANY MEDICAL COVERAGE BEING LEFT TO INDIVIDUAL STATE RULE. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT STATES ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR OWN INTERESTS…AND…THEY DON’T CARE WHO THEY ROB IN ORDER TO GET IT DONE!

Oh Sue, exactly. Those of us who live in states where Republican governors are slashing Medicaid and any state aid to the poor and disabled had to cringe at the idea of leaving to the states. Good grief, only people in the very bluest states would have a chance of surviving.

Good prettyfoot58 and TOD family. Nice to be alive and able to move FORWARD. POB is not a fool. He was following the rules first of all. POB allowed the American people to see who Mitt real person.

How do you debate a liar? Can’t be done, and POB refused to do it. I love my president and he was the bigger man last night WITH a Core! Let it go. POB could sleep last night and run the country. Mitt could not sleep after all that lying, and he will NEVER run the country.

The real question is: how did last night’s debate affect undecided voters?

So my first question last night was to wonder whether or not perhaps the Obama campaign knew exactly what they were doing. After about 5 years of watching this President and his team, I’ve learned to ask that question. Over and over and over again they have certainly proven that they know more than I do about how to win elections. But they’ve also proved themselves better at that than any of these pundits who CONSTANTLY get it wrong when assessing President Obama.

Then this morning I read a summary from a Priority USA focus group of undecided voters.
Six in 10 respondents gave President Obama favorable ratings for his overall performance in the debate, compared with just one in seven who did so for Romney.

There’s more over at the link…..he wasn’t talking to us last night. Romney was like the Tasmanian Devil in a Bugs Bunny cartoon….only with lies and no substance and fact. Romney that showed up LAST night, was different than the one that has been going all over the country, as Steve Benen points out. For the next debate, all PBO has to do is point out that “LAST WEEK” your position was different than the one you have now! We’ll never know what other people look for, or look at, when they watch these debates…but I do know that I saw a President that said the same things as he’s always said….and another guy that ranted a lot, but didn’t say much of anything specific…and once again had trouble with facts and math.

My Mom was at one of those debate Parties and they all thought the President did well.
My Mom got a email from the Obama campaign staffer saying that did the media watch the same debate we did?
Short answer- No!

For anyone with Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/2E9fDeTzNskRSENsqsDXd1 this is very interesting. A young Barack in 1995. I love you Obama. About the debate….I don’t get it. I was following the whole debate and Obama was kicking Romney’s ass on all accounts! He was calm, pragmatic,intelligent, and AWESOME. Romney kept his cool, but he was constantly lying and contradicting himself

As I wrote in my column, this might be the biggest news of the debate — news that no one is talking about. Mitt Romney accidentally admitted to shipping jobs overseas.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: And part of the way to do it is to not give tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas. Right now you can actually take a deduction for moving a plant overseas. I think most Americans would say that doesn’t make sense. And all that raises revenue. […]

MR. ROMNEY: The second topic, which is you said you get a deduction for getting a plant overseas. Look, I’ve been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I maybe need to get a new accountant.

This implication is that Romney shipped jobs overseas. In a flippant way, Romney lamented that he would’ve saved a lot of money if his “accountant” was aware of this particular tax break.

So, then, which factory and how many jobs, Mr. Romney? You know, since this election is all about jobs.

People need to hear about this first:) They were SO caught up in the aggressive bully that is MItt, that they weren’t listening to the words…….he’ll now have to DEFEND all these lies and omissions and THAT will be the part that he can’t do.

It is up to us who support POTUS who need to determine what people get to learn about the debate which is that mitt is a bullying entitled serial pathological liar. the MSM will not help us, they never have and they are really focused on keeping the race close so they can earn more money from the superpacs

Joe and his team will have to work on one thing: how do you control a liar and a bully ? Because Ryan will behave the exact same way as Romney. We can’t count on the moderator. Moderators ALWAYS let themselves get rolled over. Pushing back against a bully is a tricky business in those debates.

Good news is: the Blue team now know exactly what the challenge is. They will have this in mind in debate prep.

People are agonizing. Obama lost! Or he let Romney get away with too much! Or, here, let me tell you why Romney really lost. It’s all crap, both the hyper-concern on the part of (some) Democrats or the triumphalism by (some) Republicans.
Partisans who watched the debate are not going to change their minds about who is the better candidate and for whom they will cast their vote. Maybe a few people who haven’t paid attention to the election before will waver a little, but one debate does not change an election. Gore wiped the floor with Dubya in 2000 and look how that turned out. Guess who won the first presidential debate in 2004 to move into a tie in the polls with the incumbent? John Kerry. Anyone remember the Kerry administration?

Before I make my statement I want to make two things clear:
1. I did not, as I promised I would not, watch the debate.
2. I have throughly read every critique I could find, specially from our side.

That being said, I am glad I did not watch the debate. The reason I gave for not wanting to is that I would have a tendency to, after hearing Romney say something ridiculous, create in my own mind a response that PBO should come up with, and, knowing myself, I would become extremely frustrated if he didn’t. And based upon everything I have read, that is exactly what I would have been doing. I would have been yelling at the TV, first at Romney and then at PBO for not going for the jugular when Romney did such a good job exposing his neck.

Please note, this is not a criticism of PBO. It is a statement about how I react to this type of thing and I didn’t want to have my blood pressure skyrocket, which it probably would have done.

Now, I can make all sorts of surmises as to the method behind PBO’s way of handling Romney last night. Some may be correct and some may be wrong. I can pretty well predict that the pundits will come down on Romney’s side; they would have no matter what woudl have happened. And, undoubtedly Romney did perform well. But I think the DF comment from Linda hits it on the head. Romney was wanting to show his base that he is touch, a macho man. And I am sure he succeeded in that. PBO, however, wants to show he is in control, that he doesn’t get flustered, that he can be familiar with the facts and doesn’t need to spout off a bunch of lies. This isn’t for his base, it is for the general public. I think this wil;l lead up to the debate on foreign policy where the difference between hot-head Romney and calm, measured PBO will become totally clear.

In the meantime, both he and his surrogates will go around being more specific about the lies that Romney spouted last night.

I would like to have heard or hear in a future debate, PBO say something like, “A few weeks ago, a spokesman for Governor Romney said, in effect, that they were not going to let facts get in the way. It appears from the things the Governor has said tonight, that he agrees with that statement.” But that is me, and I do believe that the PBO campaign is far more intelligent than I am in these matters.

“A few weeks ago, a spokesman for Governor Romney said, in effect, that they were not going to let facts get in the way. It appears from the things the Governor has said tonight, that he agrees with that statement.”

Criticizing is not the issue…we can constructively do so and still respect the person…the point I was getting to is that we often overlook substance for flash…knowing me, I would’ve called Mitt a liar to his face, but then again, I’m not too smart. We all have done debates in college or in another setting and we trive on the high drama of the debate, but come away most often reembering the ‘zingers’ and not the facts or exchange…I watched the debate to get a better understanding on where Mitt stood on issues…I am none the wiser.

i should have taken your advice as well…and not watched…i found myself wishing for the President to have different responses..actually i was taken aback by the breath of Romneys arrogance …bullying tactics and downright lies…but i suppose that i should not have been surprised at all…his campaign is built on lies and trickery and distortions….

i made earlier comments giving my opinion about the debate…i spoke with my gut feelings and out of fear….i should have thought it thru before i spoke…i appologize if added to the “noise”….

but nothing can derail my support for the President or keep me from working for his re-election….

That video that Chipsticks posted of our VP is the most impressive speaking I’ve ever heard from Mr. Joseph Biden. Wow, so thoughtful, intelligent, supportive and instructive. I see these last 4 years that Barack Obama has been good for the old guy. And from this video it is clear that Joe Biden is really good for the young guy, our President. THAT’S how you “got his back”. Nice.

Ballots continue to be rejected because voters failed to follow mail ballot procedures, such as providing all required signatures. If you’re going to cast a mail ballot, don’t be one of these people! Make sure you follow the instructions. These sort of errors resulted in over 400,000 absentee ballots being rejected by Ohio election officials in 2008.

Pundits from both sides of the aisle have lauded Mitt Romney’s strong debate performance, praising his preparedness and ability to challenge President Obama’s policies and accomplishments. But Romney only accomplished this goal by repeatedly misleading viewers. He spoke for 38 minutes of the 90 minute debate and told at least 27 myths:

“In our Aurora, Colorado dial group session with the kinds of up-for-grabs voters whom Mitt Romney must win to overcome his deficits in swing states, President Obama reinforced his advantages on key qualities, and wavering Obama supporters (who were willing to give Romney a second look) largely were unimpressed by what Governor Romney had to say.

The large majority of panelists in the Aurora session were weak Democrats and independents who voted for Obama in 2008 but who remain open to switching in the upcoming election.

Six in 10 respondents gave President Obama favorable ratings for his overall performance in the debate, compared with just one in seven who did so for Romney.

The starkest difference between the two candidates was in their likeability. Eight in 10 respondents gave President Obama high marks for coming across as likeable and down to earth, while very few felt that way about Governor Romney. The President came out with a distinct advantage over Romney on the important trait, “caring about people,” and respondents were much more likely to give Obama credit for being honest and truthful in discussing the issues.”

Has the way a President is elected changed? Must a candidate now “win” every debate in order to move into the White House? You’d think so by the reactions to last night’s debate here and on the media. Mitt Romney needed to pull his campaign out of the toilet so he used every trick he has in his arsenal to show the man he is. Mitt brought his CEO-self to the debates. The person that was in charge when Bain brought all of those companies, lied to management while telling them his company was going to make things better and then fired everyone and closed up shop. That is what he is going to do to the United States if he is elected. We need to focus on the things that Mitt said last night – I didn’t recognize the candidate up there – I almost thought he was the democrat several times. He’s a shape shifter with no substance but with a capacity to lie very convincingly. Our job is to make sure that other voters see who that man is. Our job is to call out the lies and push back on each with the truth via twitter, Facebook, volunteering for the campaign and donating. We’ve got a job to do – let’s not let hand-wringing be one of the things we focus on. #Forward2012. I’ve got the President’s back – and I KNOW all of you do too.

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced Wednesday that it is launching a criminal investigation into voter registration forms filed by a GOP vendor, Strategic Allied Consulting.

The FDLE spent Monday and Tuesday reviewing forms filed by the Republican Party of Florida that were deemed suspicious by elections supervisors to determine if there was evidence of illegal activity.

“Following the review, there was criminal predicate,” said FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. “There was a possibility that crimes were committed.”

Submitting false voter registration information is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

Questionable registration forms have so far been found in a dozen counties, spanning from South Florida to the Panhandle. Many of the forms were incomplete, at least one was registered to a dead person and some in Palm Beach County included addresses for voters that were business locations, such as a gas station, a Land Rover dealership and a Port Everglades administrative office.

TY Jodie – where are all those people who screamed about acorn – because they did the right thing with doubtful forms. This lot were paid millions by the GOP – they obviously can’t lie as well as Romney.

Thanks Chips, and the entire TOD community for offering a refuge from early-morning MSNBC (I’m in CA).

John Kerry was probably not the best choice to act as a R-money surrogate; we needed a lying bully to fill that role, but Dems don’t have many who can play the part of a LYING BULLY.

The media has dismissed R-money’s condescension when he openly admitted his sons lie (hmmm, I wonder where they get THAT trait) and compared the President of the United States to his sons. And the lies that spewed out of Bully Romneybot.

Jim Lehrer was awful on so many counts, but to not bring up gun control in Denver after the horrific Aurora theater shootings less than 3 months ago? Women? SCOTUS? Veterans care? Infrastructure? Congress?

Good morning TODville! Big wave to Mayor Chips…I had to delurk just to make this one comment.
All along, our side has been presenting this election has a choice between two fundamentally different opponents (differences in politics, in socio-economic & socio-cultural philosophies…etc), for me the debate was simply an extension of this strategy. What I saw in the red corner, was an opponent who was fact-twisting-outright-lying-condescending bully with no substance and little to offer policy wise. On the other hand, the blue corner had a respectful, fact-honoring, policy-sharing contender who was showing the public once again the differences between himself and his opponent.
Color me crazy but again, I saw the presentation of differences!

Hi everyone. I haven’t posted a comment in a long time but I’ve been reading as always. The one thing the debate proved to me, no matter who anyone says “won” it, was the Mitt Romney is a profoundly unlikeable man. He showed himself to be out for himself, regardless of the agreed upon format and rules, disrespectful of the moderator and his opponent. He smirked and bullied and did whatever he felt like doing making up rules as he went along. The right wing seems to like this sort of behavior. They want the US to be a bully nation that tells the rest of the world what to do, when to do it and thinks that strength is about who can shout the loudest and shoot the most.

The majority of Americans, however, don’t feel that way. We don’t want a president who thinks rules don’t apply to him, that facts are secondary to what is expedient at the moment, and has no respect for anyone but himself. And that is who Mitt Romney showed himself to be. That is why, no matter what the pundits had to say, that his “winning” performance didn’t gain him converts in the instant polls. He may have “won” by being unpleasant and rude, but he didn’t win the important thing he needed to win: the hearts of the people watching the debate. He just looked like a jerk.

And now today, all those people who watched him and felt uncomfortable about his behavior are hearing today about how not only was he a smarmy looking bully, he wasn’t even telling the truth about much of anything other than his name. This gives those uncomfortable viewers, who were disconcerted about not liking the man and feeling guilty about it, the okay to go ahead and follow their instincts against him because he wasn’t just socially inept,arrogant and rude, he was lying through his teeth.

so mittbot, the “market-driven” health insurance industry is what started denying people for pre-existing conditions in the first place, and was doing it more than ever (literally killing more and more of our family and friends across america) until president obama and democrats changed it. republicans have been trying to distance themselves from the “pre-existing condition” issue for a while (lyin ryan’s been will be doing this too), since they know it’s horrific and bad politics, but of course they just wave their magic wands and say they’ll magically fix that but not anything else. presto, change-o! is the entire republican argument.

For all the lore and media buildup, the events haven’t had much impact on election outcomes.
“Where you started the debate season is pretty much where you end the debate season,” said Christopher Wlezien, a political science professor at Temple University and co-author of the book “The Timeline of Presidential Elections.”
No candidate who was leading in the polls six weeks before the election has lost the popular vote since Thomas Dewey in 1948, according to Wlezien and Robert Erikson, a political science professor at Columbia University. They studied polling data going back to 1952 and computed a running average “poll of polls” for each presidential election.”

Forget the lowlife beltway boyz and take heart:
To repeat, history is on the side of our President:

“No candidate who was leading in the polls six weeks before the election has lost the popular vote since Thomas Dewey in 1948, according to Wlezien and Robert Erikson, a political science professor at Columbia University. They studied polling data going back to 1952 and computed a running average “poll of polls” for each presidential election.”

Good morning everyone! Chips, thanks as usual for this round up. I haven’t been able to catch up on all of the comments from yesterday but I wanted to chime in with my thoughts post-debate. As someone who has been involved in local politics for a long time, I really don’t see this debate as a game changer in ANY way. I know that sometimes people accuse partisans of epistemic closure but in this case I don’t think that I am in the bubble. I didn’t catch the debate in real time. I watched it on replay and what I saw was a salesman against a statesman. Of course I support Pres. Obama so I am more inclined to like him but I think that particularly if you were a woman watching this debate, you saw what I did.

I admit that I also saw a very tired man on that stage last night. It makes me worry that there is something coming down the pike that we don’t know about. If so, well then events will overtake the media narrative and spin. If not, then events will still overtake the media narrative and spin. In a couple of weeks when the dust settles, we will still be where we are today. With the President leading and Mitt Romney behind. What matters most in this time is how we as supporters of the President react. Are we going to get despondent or are we going to redouble our efforts to GOTV? I choose the latter. So I will be heading to Iowa from Chicago this Saturday to do some more canvassing.

The pundits know nothing. They don’t actually talk to voters for the most part. They will write their pieces and make their statements. It won’t matter in the end. One last thing, I caught my local news last night. They mentioned the debate but only reported on it as a he said/he said. There was no commentary. There were no particularly memorable lines cited. No gaffes. I think that this is telling and leads me to believe that this Romney “boomlet” will be short-lived.

Thanks to each of you for all you do and for your steadfast support of the President and of our country. I don’t comment often but I always check out this space and value it very much. Have a great weekend.

I am livid with some of the people on this site who were talking mad shit about PBO’s performance last night. Then you all don’t know him that well like you think you do. There was no knock out last night. This is not the first and only fight. We have two more rounds. Yes Mitt the shit came out swinging, and the Pres let him . Thinking to himself give me all you got. And Mitt did just that .

I agree. I think people are so passionate about reelecting President Obama sometimes they can’t see the forest for the trees. And I didn’t watch but the second day analysis of truth tellers is Romney is a liar and now we have real proof his debate last night. If anything that debate made President Obama more likable and Romney even more unlikable.

Man, I haven’t posted over here in awhile, but had to add my 2 cents. As I watched the debate, I was feeling like pretty much everyone else that Obama was perfect on the facts like he was having a conversation with adults but slow with the delivery, not sharp enough with quick answers, the aggressiveness, the in your face combativeness that we have seen from Obama in the past but not very often. We love that when obama comes out swinging, we have seen that side of him and it riles up his base. I was punching at the tv, yelling at the tv to GET HIM DAMNIT and Obama just let his bullshit lies go by. I was reading the twitter feeds, the blogs and my blood pressure started to rise. THEN I REMBEMERED this video I also rembembered that we have seen this story before for 4 years. Every single time we think Obama is on the ropes or down, he comes back with a venegence and destroys his opponents. We have to stop looking for immediate gratification and look at the bigger picture. No matter what Romney did last night, EARLY VOTING HAS STARTED and he is currently behind 8 points in OHIO, 7 Points in IOWA, 5 points in COLORADO. So no matter what Romney does he is currently losing by large electoral numbers. AND romney forgets their is YOUTUBE where he will be seeing his remarks from last night, last week, last month, last year that contradict everything he has said thus far. THE OBAMA ADS are gearing up to destroy his ass. So, even though Obama didn’t go after him, I can gurantee, next debate he will and Joe Biden next week will not let that weasal Paul Ryan get away with bold faced lies. Joe will get in his face and destroy his ass in front of millions.

Read the article. Disagreed with him on some points but agreed with him on the overarching point. Electoral college wise, Romney is trailing Pres. Obama badly and early voting has already begun. He has a HUGE deficit to overcome and no time to overcome that deficit. Who here thinks Romney can go about two weeks without another campaign gaffe? He just needs enough rope to hang himself and Pres. Obama gave him a lot of space last night to do exactly that.

To clarify something I said earlier. I don’t think this was a game changer in any way. Pierce is his usual overally judgemental self. I think a lot of us tend to think, “Well this is what I would say if I were up there facing Romney” and get upset when PBO doesn’t. Pierce likened it to a boxing match and PBO doing the rope-a-dope thing except that PBO never let out with the crushing one two jabs that flatten the opponent like Ali would do.
Where Pierce misses the point is that Ali woudl do the rope-a-dope for several rounds and then lash out when his opponent was tired. What we saw last night was round one with a few more rounds to go. And Romney will have no strength for the foreign policy debate, which is what will be the last thing in voters’ minds when the make their final choice.

Also, while commenting on another blog soemthign struck me. Peopel woudl talk about how PBO looked tired, fatigued, maybe having a cold or something. I can’t speak to that, not having watched the debate, but it stirred a memory.

I remember the debate with Clinton just prior to, I think, the PA primary. PBO did appear sluggish, not feeling well, and the moderators, Stephenopolous and someone else, were definitely hostile to him. I remember the next day all the chicken-littling going on about how bad the debate went and how PBO was doomed. Well, we all know what the outcome was.

Well up and at O peeps!! How’s everyone doing on yet another great getting up day in TOD world? I’d love to stay and chat this thing up, but duty calls me elsewhere. .

Oh yeah, my political take today is if you get a chance watch the debate again with objectivity and not with all of the emotion that we tend to invest in PBO’s well being. He did fine and he spoke to the audience who needed to hear him. He was not talking to us and he wasn’t talking to MItt’s voters. I listened to CSPAN call in voters after the debate and PBO was clearly more effective. This morning I listened to the call in voters for 3 hours and during the segment for undecideds, and first time voters, PBO was very much ahead.

PS: Please keep the fretting and media ranting to a minimum. It does bring folks down and serves no purpose to the folks who visit this site. The folks who need to know about it is the media themselves. Why do you think they invented the twitter box?

Willard M. Romney is still a lying, sneering SOB.
The mainstream media pundits are still useless carnival barkers (and why people continue to give them so much time and energy is beyond me).
The professional left is still wishy-washy and skurred.
BARACK OBAMA is still the President (and still will be on November 7th).

I appreciate all the disciplined, strong-spined, non-Chicken Littlish comments I’ve read here. There are many here with whom I would easily share a foxhole with full confidence.

Could not agree more PJ- on all points. Most definitely proud of the response from folks here- we know whats up, we’ve paid attention- and we know all that “style” Romney supposedly showed- was nothing but lies & word salad. Having shared a foxhole- I too would gladly share one with all here at TOD.

Romney had to have a “win” to keep his financial support. Much better that it goes to him than to the races further down where it might actually help someone from the GOP. Money spent on Romney in the next month will help some democrats in congress get elected.

My daughter who is a CPA in Ct. just called me and said she and people in her firm had just been looking at the Romney tax return and even tho many of the “facts” were known, they are all in amazement of this thing. She said even tho they have many very wealthy clients out there in the northeast, none had ever seen such a document—–349 pages of listings of all foreign investments! Not one penny invested in America or any American company. She called Romney’s wealth as something so separate from what most people can imagine, that it’s like he’s from another planet—-(maybe Kolob). And she said of his $200 million in personal wealth, you would think he would have invested in some Ma. or some American company—-some G.E. investment or something. But not one dollar—-all foreign investments. This is the truth PBO is getting at when he talks about “economic patriotism”—–there is no loyalty to this country, has gone to great lengths to hide his funds and support from America. And all his charitable contributions go to the Mormon Church, plus some to a family fund.
They also looked at President Obama’s return—–very straight forward compared to that one—–daughter called it a $500 return, doable in one day. And many charitable contributions going to a multitude of good causes.
She said most people have no idea the amount of wealth shown on this tax return——their staff there had never seen anything like it——and all were pretty disgusted by the 349 pages of foreign investments.
And she threw in that people giving Romney applause for his debate performance were reacting like 3rd graders—–immaturely responding to outward bombast over substance.

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I let the MSM upset me where I couldn’t sleep last night. They aggravated me with silly questions… why didn’t the POTUS hit Romney hard on his policies; why didn’t the POTUS call Romney out over the 47%; why didn’t the POTUS kick Romney in the balls! The MSM wanted the POTUS to cat fight with Mittens, and because the POTUS didn’t go there he lost the debate.

What does winning mean in this country? You’re a winner if you lie with confidence and gusto? The POTUS was on point last night; he explained how the country will move forward under his leadership and Romney, he sounded like McCain…”I know how to create jobs, heal the world of evil, I’ll do it, I know how to do it my friends”. The POTUS playing chess while Romney fooled around with his tiddlywinks. The POTUS allowed Romney to presented himself as the liar he is. Moreover;
the presidential debate is not entertainment, it is a means of information gathering. I am sick of placating to the low information voter who needs unintelligent mental simulation. The POTUS spoke to the American electorate intelligently while Romney talk fast, loose and fraudulently.
In addition; The MSM needs to stop trying to analyze the POTUS he is far smarter than they will every ever be.

“the presidential debate is not entertainment, it is a means of information gathering”.

But. Americans have come to view everything as entertainment…check out the gore that accounts for daily news, and the staged “reality”
tv; witnessing live suicides and murders, to viewing the start of the Iraq war as a video game. Folks, a great portion of the nation is growth-stunted. PBO is trying to mature us. Better grab it while we got it.

Obama was not, Let me repeat, Obama was not off his game, this is the Obama way. This is a black man he can not follower the old way of doing things. He is trying to get more of the white men vote and clinton and Joe going to be out there doing that with all the new stuff Obama got out of mitt last night.

Bottom line …. you’ll see me sharing this insight with others who need to know we do get it and only laugh at all the #NEWSTAINER and #EMOPROG nonsense … PBO was Presidential and truthful and that is all that mattered (and ever will).

Earlier this morning I typed up a blistering response to some commenters on last night’s blog. But when I read it again, I decided to delete it. This is not the time for a “family fight”. All I’ll say is that I remain concerned how much the fact-free political discourse has gained acceptance and how much it can cause people to question the honest contender for nothing more than his adherence to the facts and his highly developed civility. For me, personally, President Obama is the true winner of this debate. I share his belief that all opinions should be presented and that a thoughtful analysis is the road to progressive action. He did just that – stated his agenda, provided the reasoning behind it and refuted the claims of his opponent.
It wasn’t about delivering a “knockout punch”, it was about presenting his record and his agenda to the American people. Mr. Romney, on the other hand, delivered an incoherent mishmash of hyperbole and outright fabrications and added no factual information on how he would govern. If his statements regarding Medicare are any indication of his approach, voters will think twice before they elect someone with such disdain for the truth.

I agree. I feel like PBO was clear and concise with specifics. As a matter of fact I can state clearly his specifics. I cannot however state anything truthful or specific Mitt said besides admitting he will not raise revenue. I see that fact checkers are checking him this morning so while he may have been declared a winner by many, he lost. PBO reached those teachers with overcrowded classrooms. He reached seniors by discussing AARP endorsing his plan vs Mitt’s. He reached students, and middle class families when he described Donald Trump as a “small business” by Mitt’s definition. Those were all strong points. I can’t see how Mitt’s likeability went up a single notch from last night’s debate, and if anything it has made me even more committed. I donated last night although it was not in my plans. Mitt scared me even more and we need to remain fired up and vigilant on the task at hand together.

Here is what President Obama said last night about Social Security and Medicare that will reach some old lady who thinking about voting for mitt.

“My grandmother, some of you know, helped to raise me — my grandparents did. My grandfather died a while back. My grandmother died three days before I was elected President. And she was fiercely independent. She worked her way up — only had a high school education, started as a secretary, ended up being the vice president of a local bank. And she ended up living alone by choice. And the reason she could be independent was because of Social Security and Medicare.

She had worked all her life, put in this money, and understood that there was a basic guarantee, a floor under which she could not go. And that’s the perspective I bring when I think about what’s called entitlements. The name itself implies some sense of dependency on the part of these folks. These are folks who’ve worked hard, like my grandmother, and there are millions of people out there who are counting on this. “

I watched the debate on CSPAN and so had a completely different impression than the networks and cable pundiots had after the debate. I don’t know fi camera placement differed according to tV station but on CSPAN there were no wide camera shots only the split screen close-ups and what I saw reminded me of Nixon sweating during his debate with JFK. Rommey came across us erratic and belligerent. Maybe that is what the viewers who gave Romney high marks want at this time.

So here’s the bottom line: Pres. Obama had to break the racial animus fever that had gathered extra steam just the night before from Tucker Carlson & Hannity’s stunt. Whatever you think of Pres. Obama’s performance, the “angry black man” accusation is dead in water right now and inoculates Pres. Obama for his next debate.

Besides he’s human afterall. We need to stop projecting infallibility onto him or seeing him as messiah. We have to want this win as much as we want him to.he’s been fighting non-stop for 5 years, brother’s bound to get fed up.

Whew lawd, zizi. This is it exactly. The man is not only super-worked in his day job, which is never less than a 24 hour grind, but has to meet people’s expectations of – dare I say it- super negro to appease the idea of what he should be. Never mind that he has won the hearts and minds and support of millions for being who he genuinely is, across the board, but that so many on this board and others were counting down the day of the first debate wherein PBO would “kick butt”. Except, he had a different idea. Recall how his speech after the Gulf Oil spill was widely panned by the media- their bad; his so-so convention speech according to same media; and now the mega expectations of his “supporters” who wanted blood-sport as much as the R crew– yes they did. Myself, I took PBO’s cue when he said that R would be bringing zingers and he would be bringing the truth. So I never expected a knock down fight there on that stage. I expected just what was given. Maybe why I am not disappointed in the outcome?

Just want her to know, we know … least we can do given that it was there 20th Anniversary and he did a great service to America (in the eyes of the world) and all but the few Americans who are so blinded by greed or racism or both to consider Mitt anything but an unhinged, bully liar. BTW, it’s all on YouTube for posterity, both the Presidential Behavior of PBO and the overwhelming display of delusional pathology of Mitt.

@MichelleObama#PBO pulled back the curtain on the shallow, unhinged & dishonest Mitt & it's ALL on YouTube. That's a big WIN for AMERICA.

…One would have thought that yesterday was Election Day itself. Everything hinged on last night’s debate–that was the media’s narrative; their marketing “hook”; their characteristically overblown, hyperbolic humbug that so distorted impressions of last night’s actual event.

Which was? Ninety-minutes of relentless, cold-blooded lying on Romney’s part. I hadn’t intended to blog during the debate, but upon hearing the former governor launch into some truly insidious perjury about his own friggin’ tax plan, I couldn’t help myself. I raced to the laptop and rattled out: “This is staggering. Even for Romney..

…Foolish me. I thought that’s how the pundits would see it; how they would journalistically receive Romney’s ruthless lying about taxes and, later, his ruthless lying about Medicare, and then his ruthless lying about ObamaCare…

“Both pundits and partisans relish the idea of attack politics. That’s what they want to see and that’s how they judge the debates. It just might be that the Obama campaign is smart enough to know that’s not the audience they’re playing to at this stage. Romney needs to win over almost 100% of the undecideds in order to have a prayer of competing in this election. Obama may have shut down that possibility last night.”

Good morning everyone! Thought i’d drop by to join the chorus of “calm down” cause PBO’s got this. Look for some really good ads in the next few days (hell, maybe the next few hours) with Team Obama showing that lyin’ SOS lying using his own words. And it will be delicious when it it happens! :).

What’s striking is how the media has transformed the debate into some sort of landslide victory that some hyperventilating commentators think could cost him the election. (The reality: Debates rarely move the polls more than a few points.)

OK….I am one who is defending Chris M and all for their reactions…I too was so PO last night I had a hard time sleeping…this morning I am still PO….not AT PBO but FOR PBO….and the operative word is FOR……why, why, I keep asking…Why did he not counter punch the LIES…why, why did he not say a thing about the 47%, women, auto, job creation, R filibusters, DADT, etc; those are domestic policies…WHY did PBO have to stand up there and endure those lies…….Where was the passion…..and…..what I have concluded is that PBO had no CHOICE…we who support him want him to counter punch b/c we KNOW him, we TRUST him….and we will vote and support him irregardless of a debate….it never crosses our mind the visual of a BLACK man argueing with a WHITE man…..I am an old, white, southern..I would say lady but I don’t feel much like a lady this morning b/c I AM SO PO….PO that this country still requires a black man not be an ANGRY BLACK MAN……was he angry, you damn right…you could see it in his pores…you could see it in his eyes….you could see it in the control he had over his body movements….so all I can conclude is…..THANK YOU GOD FOR PROTECTING PBO AND NOT LETTING HIM KNOCK THE HELL OUT OF THAT LYING AH……as I said, I am REALLY PO…………and thank you Charlie Crist, who would have thought, to bring me back to earth to move Forward….

4.Not bringing up the 47% was a smart move – it’s a big weapon in the Pres’ arsenal and Romney would have just lied about it so in that sense the power of the attack has not diminished – we can keep using it.

5.The MAJOR Romney blunder – he admitted he wanted to voucherize Medicare. That will stick and can be used by other dems down ballot.

6. Just remember to keep working and fighting. Lets not talk too much about what the pundits are saying. It’s just going to upset everyone and they would be saying alot of the same stuff regardless.

7. Romney is undoubtedly rejuvenated – let’s hope he overreaches – and let’s just focus on getting out the vote – not the garbage spewing forth from Romney.

8.The race IS close but PBO is a fighter – he will pull it out but needs everybody’s help more than ever.

9. Thanks to Chips for soldiering on through the good and not so good times – it takes a strong person to keep going after all the rubbish we’ve heard over the past 24 hours.

10. Let’s just focus on the positive for the next few weeks as it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Hey Pamela, are you up yet? I’m back, but have no clue yet what’s been going on. Am off to wander the streets for a bit. Will be back for our date and to hear Pres O speak – save us a seat/spot in the front row, please. Thanks. :lol:

I have had to talk 3 people off the ledge this morning. I am astounded at how people do not us critical thinking skills. President Obama is not stupid. Nor are his advisers. I looked at the expressions on PBO’s face many times. He was either smiling or gritting his teeth. I think (and this is clearly supposition) that the plan was to let Romney say as many lies as he could get out his mouth. I think PBO was doing the old rope-a-dope. Maybe some of you are too young to remember Muhammad Ali. But one of the tactics he used was to just lay on the ropes take punches or cover up. Then at some point in the fight when his opponent was over confident and tired Ali would beat the snot out of them. Watch PBO next debate. He is going to clean Romney’s clock. I’ll bet $10,000 :) on it. Oh, BTW, I heard a Congresswoman on Stephanie’s show (I forget her name but she represents CO) say she was in the hall during the debate. She said after the debate she talked to people and the women said they found Romney rude, condescending and a bully.

That’s how Romney came across to me and I would bet most undecided voters as well. It’s not a “winning” impression in my mind. But it is consistent with Romney’s behavior on the campaign trail. It just reinforces the image in voters’ minds that Romney is NOT a nice guy or someone you want to vote for or have lead the country. Everyone is predicting some pick up in the polls for Romney but I wouldn’t not be surprised if this debate actually ends up costing him votes from women in particular. Romney just seemed like that obnoxious frat guy who thought he was so popular but actually everyone hated and couldn’t stand being around.

President Obama is doing his rope a dope as usual. I don’t know when people are going to realize this. I agree with Libral Librarian, that it is hard to debate a bold faced liar. I just hope undecided voters will educate themselves and realize that Romney is a liar.